Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team
Wrestling's World's Greatest Tag Team is a professional wrestling tag team on the independent circuit, which uses the name The (Self-Proclaimed) World's Greatest Tag Team. The team consists of Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin. Originally formed in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), they started out captained by Kurt Angle, during which time they were known as Team Angle. They wrestle on for several independent promotions, including Ring of Honor (ROH), where they are the reigning ROH World Tag Team Champions. Haas and Benjamin made their debut on the SmackDown! brand in December 2002, and won the WWE Tag Team Championship in February 2003. After losing the championship in May, Haas and Benjamin were fired from Team Angle, and changed their name to The Best Damn Tag Team Period, before settling on The World's Greatest Tag Team. They won the championship back in July, and their second reign lasted for two months. They continued to compete on SmackDown!, until March 2004, when Benjamin was moved to the Raw brand as part of the Draft Lottery. The team reformed in December 2006 on the Raw brand, and competed against numerous teams, although they were unsuccessful in winning the World Tag Team Championship. The team was split again in November 2007, when Benjamin moved to the ECW brand, but later reformed briefly back on SmackDown in May 2009. History Initial run (2002-2004) The tag team made their debut on the December 26, 2002 edition of WWE's SmackDown!. Paul Heyman introduced the team under the name Team Angle as a "gift" to his top client Kurt Angle. The team won the WWE Tag Team Championship on February 6, 2003 by defeating Los Guerreros. On May 18, they lost the titles to Eddie Guerrero and Tajiri at Judgment Day in a Ladder Match. On June 12, Angle confronted Benjamin and Haas about the losing streak they had been in for a couple of weeks, and he fired them both from Team Angle. Soon after the breakup, Benjamin and Haas referred to themselves as The Best Damn Tag Team Period (a reference to the Fox Sports Net show The Best Damn Sports Show Period) and then The Self-Proclaimed World's Greatest Tag Team, or The World's Greatest Tag Team for short, and went on to recapture the WWE Tag Team Championship from Eddie Guerrero and Tajiri on July 3, but lost them just after two months to Los Guerreros on September 18. The group stayed together until March 22, 2004 when, during the Draft Lottery, Benjamin was drafted to the RAW brand, thus breaking up The World's Greatest Tag Team. They two briefly reunited in the 2005 Royal Rumble match, performing their various double team moves on other superstars. Haas was kept on SmackDown! until his release in July 2005. Reformation (2006-2007) On April 17, 2006, Haas returned to WWE as part of the RAW brand, defeating his former tag team partner, Benjamin, the very same night. On the December 4, edition of Raw, after Benjamin pinned Super Crazy, Haas entered the ring, berated Crazy, and celebrated with a bewildered Benjamin. The next week, Shelton announced The World's Greatest Tag Team was officially back in a segment with Cryme Tyme. They defeated The Highlanders in a match later that same night. They then feuded with Cryme Time, but were largely unsuccessful, including a tag team turmoil match at New Year's Revolution. However, they finally pinned Cryme Tyme, ending their undefeated streak, on the January 29, 2007 edition of Raw. On April 2, The World's Greatest Tag Team was unsuccessful in defeating the team of Ric Flair and Carlito, but defeated them in a rematch on April 16 when Haas distracted Carlito, setting him up for a T-Bone suplex by Benjamin. They won again when Carlito turned against Ric Flair, leaving The World's Greatest Tag Team to pick up the count out victory. They then challenged The Hardy Boyz for the World Tag Team Championship at One Night Stand in a ladder match, but came up short. The World's Greatest Tag Team then went into a feud with Paul London and Brian Kendrick after losing to the duo on their debut match on Raw. Two weeks later, London defeated Benjamin, whilst Haas was able get singles wins over Kendrick and London on Heat. On the July 23 edition of Raw, The World's Greatest Tag Team got a tag team win over London and Kendrick. They were once again also known as The (Self-Proclaimed) World's Greatest Tag Team. On the Night before Benjamin moved to ECW on Heat The World's Greatest Tag Team had their final match for the world tag team championship againest Lance Cade & Trever Murdoch but failed to capture the victory. The team was disbanded when Benjamin joined the ECW roster. Haas was given a new gimmick of wearing a lucha mask during parts of his matches. Sporadic reformations (2009) On April 15, 2009, Haas was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft. On the May 8, 2009 episode of SmackDown, Benjamin accompanied Haas to the ring for his match against John Morrison, hinting at a possible reunion. The following week on the May 15 episode of SmackDown, Benjamin and Haas unofficially reunited and competed against John Morrison and CM Punk in a losing effort. At Judgment Day, Haas escorted Benjamin to the ring for his match against Morrison. On June 29, Benjamin was traded back to the ECW brand. On February 28, 2010, WWE announced that Haas had been released from his contract.59 On April 22, WWE announced than Benjamin had been released from his contract as well. Ring of Honor and the independent circuit (2010–2013) After Benjamin was released by WWE in June 2010, he reunited with Haas (whom WWE had released nearly a year ago as well) as Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team at the Ring of Honor pay-per-view Glory by Honor IX, where they took on The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli) but lost. On December 8, 2010, Haas and Benjamin returned to Ohio Valley Wrestling, more than seven years after their previous match for the promotion. In their return match they defeated The Elite (Adam Revolver and Ted McNaler). The following day they took part in their first Ring of Honor Wrestling tapings, defeating the Bravado Brothers (Harlem and Lance). The following day, at the second set of television tapings, Haas and Bejamin defeated the All-Night Xpress of Kenny King and Rhett Titus, before participating in an eight-man tag team match, in which Haas and Benjmain teamed with the Briscoe Brothers against the Kings of Wrestling and the All-Night Xpress. The match ended in a no contest. On December 18 at the Final Battle 2010 pay-per-view, Haas and Benjamin announced that in 2011 they would be wrestling regularly for Ring of Honor. At the following pay-per-view, 9th Anniversary Show, on February 26, 2011, Haas and Benjamin defeated the Briscoe Brothers in the main event of the evening to earn another shot at the Kings of Wrestling and the ROH World Tag Team Championship. On April 1, at ROH Honor Takes Center Stage Night One, Haas and Benjamin defeated the Kings of Wrestling to win the RoH World Tag Team Championship. Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team lost the ROH world tag team titles to the Briscoe Brothers at Final Battle 2011 when Benjamin turned against Haas during the match. On May 12, 2012 at Border Wars, Hass and Benjamin regained the ROH World Tag Team Championship from the Briscoe Brothers. On June 24 at Best in the World 2012, Haas and Benjamin lost the title to Kenny King and Rhett Titus. Shortly after their loss, Benjamin was suspended in storyline, to explain his absence while wrestling in Japan. Benjamin returned at the Death Before Dishonor X pay-per-view, accompanying Haas and Rhett Titus in a tag team championship match. Following Death Before Dishonor, Haas and Benjamin would continue to feud with Titus and his new tag team partner B.J. Whitmer defeating them at Glory By Honor XI. They defeated them again in a street fight at Final Battle. Benjamin was released from ROH in December 2012. He made one more appearance for ROH on February 2, 2013, when Haas turned on him during an ROH World Tag Team Championship match against the Briscoe Brothers. The team officially disbanded on March 30, 2013, after Benjamin began working full-time in Japan, and Haas left the promotion in March. In wrestling *'Finishing and signature maneuvers' **'Double team finishing and signature moves' ***'Leapfrog stun gun' ***Superkick (Benjamin) followed into a bridging German suplex (Haas) ***Inverted atomic drop (Haas) followed by a superkick (Benjamin) into a jackknife pin (Haas) ***Powerbomb (Haas) / Diving lariat (Benjamin) combination ***Double arm drag onto the knees ***Gutbuster (Benjamin) onto knee (Haas) *'Managers' **Kurt Angle **Paul Heyman Championships and accomplishments *'World Wrestling Entertainment' **WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times) *'Ring of Honor' **ROH World Tag Team Championship (2 time) *'Pro Wrestling Illustrated' **PWI Tag Team of the Year (2003) External links * Profile Category:Ring of Honor teams and stables Category:World Wrestling Entertainment teams and stables Category:ROH World Tag Team Champions Category:WWE Tag Team Champions Category:2002 debuts Category:2013 disbandments Category:Teams and stables